Semiconductor devices are devices that employ semiconductor materials, which are solid materials that exhibit an electrical conductivity lying between that of a conductor and that of an insulator. Semiconductor devices include, for example, diodes (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), photovoltaic devices, sensors, solid state lasers, and integrated circuits (e.g., memory modules and microprocessors).
Semiconductor materials that can be employed in semiconductor devices include, for example, silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), chalcopyrites (e.g., CuInS2, CuGaS2, and CuInSe2), chalcogenides (e.g., Cu(InxGa1-x)(SeyS1-y)2), cadmium telluride (CdTe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), organic polymers (e.g., polyphenylene vinylene, copper phthalocyanine, fullerenes), and light absorbing dyes (e.g., ruthenium-centered metalorganic dyes).
It has been discovered that chalcopyrite materials may be formed by decomposing one or more so-called “single source precursors” (SSPs), which are organometallic substances (e.g., molecules, complexes, etc.) that comprise all of the atomic elements, in the appropriate stoichiometric ratios, necessary to form a chalcopyrite material. Such methods, and methods of forming such SSPs are disclosed in, for example, Hirpo et al., Synthesis of Mixed Copper-Indium Chalcogenolates. Single-Source Precursors for The Photovoltaic Materials CuInQ2 (Q=S, Se), JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 115, Iss. 4, pp. 1597-1599 (Feb. 24, 1993). Methods for forming such SSPs are also disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,992,202, which issued Jan. 31, 2006 to Banger et al.
There remains a need in the art, however, for improved methods that may be used to form single source precursors for use in forming chalcopyrite materials (e.g., semiconductive ternary chalcopyrite materials).